Chinese, U.S. artists present joint exhibition in Cincinnati

Jan Brown Checco (2nd L), lead artist of the Cincinnati/Liuzhou Paint Out Program, takes pictures of the drawings with her cell phone, at the Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati of Ohio, the United States, July 25, 2019. Chinese and U.S. artists recently took part in the Cincinnati/Liuzhou Paint Out Program, in which artists from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were invited to visit Cincinnati for a week. They visited museums and galleries, exchanged art views and techniques with their U.S. counterparts, and presented a joint exhibition. Cincinnati and Liuzhou celebrated their 30th anniversary of the establishment of sister city relations last year. (Xinhua/Zhang Fengguo)

CINCINNATI, the United States, July 27 -- Chinese and U.S. artists presented a joint exhibition on Saturday in midwest U.S. city of Cincinnati in an effort to deepen cultural exchanges between the two peoples.

The exhibition, held at Caza Sikes Gallery, showcased approximately 50 paintings and drawings of 11 Chinese artists and seven U.S. artists, and offered the public the artists' view of different parts of the city.

The exhibition was part of the Cincinnati/Liuzhou Paint Out Program, in which artists from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were invited to visit Cincinnati for a week. They visited museums and galleries, exchanged art views and techniques with their U.S. counterparts, and created art pieces as they got inspirations from everything the city had to offer.

Jan Brown Checco, lead artist of the paint out program, said it was the first of its kind ever to be done between Cincinnati and Liuzhou in Guangxi. The two cities celebrated their 30th anniversary of the establishment of sister city relations last year.

Having volunteered to work with Cincinnati's network of 10 sister cities for 20 years, she said such partnerships among cities far apart made people feel much connected.

One of the places that the artists went sketching was the Smale Riverfront Park. Built only eight years ago, the park has become the front yard of the entire city. Checco, who took part in designing the park, said some of the features were inspired by designers' trip to Liuzhou.

"In Liuzhou, we had our trips on the river, saw the city lit at night, and appreciated the beautiful gardens in Longtan Park. We like to bring the beauty back to our own hometown," she said.

The paint out program was sponsored and organized by the Cincinnati-Liuzhou Sister City Committee. After the exhibition, the art pieces will be on sale till Aug. 19. The money received from the sale of the paintings will be donated to the committee to help pay for future exchanges.

To strengthen people-to-people exchanges between the two cities, the committee has recently organized exchanges for teachers, students, libraries, parks and chefs, among others, said Joe Hamrick, the committee's chairman.

The exchanges between sister cities "allow people to see beyond the stereotypes and understand how much alike they are no matter where they live and what they look like," he said.